Carter on Kawasaki pull-out

Wouldn't it have been fascinating to have been a fly on the wall during Wednesday's talks between Kawasaki and GP bosses DORNA?

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The ones that took place before Kawasaki announced it was pulling out of the 2009 MotoGP season.

On one side, a company which is much more worried about its global business in these difficult times than it is in going round in circles on incredibly expensive prototype machines with little hope of toppling the likes of Yamaha, Ducati or Honda.

On the other, an organisation which may have to put out a seriously depleted grid for this year's championship - so much so that there's talk of less than 17 bikes on the grid by the time the first round gets underway.

I bet everyone was being really nice during the talks; very professional across the table. And I also bet there was some chatting going on through gritted teeth.

I can totally understand why a company such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries would want to stop the big-money drain on its green cash reserves for the time being, especially in light of recent performances over the past few seasons.

And I don't think anyone can blame them. KHI is a business and the single, sole purpose of a business is to get out into the world and make money.

It's as simple an equation as that and, as the world tightens its belt quicker then Fern Britton after having a gastric band fitted, making enough money to keep yourself afloat over the coming months and years is getting increasingly hard.

Things are tough and I have been told by others in the paddock that Kawasaki MotoGP has found itself in a similar position to the one that Honda car racing faced a couple of months ago - and the 'Big H' decided it was going to stop the rot by pulling out of Formula One.

F1 is a much bigger concern than MotoGP for a factory, but the same aim remains: employing people and making things to sell; trimming back and hunkering down until things recover is the obvious option to take. When they have done that, they can get back to the fun: like going round in circles at insanely fast speeds.

But this announcement from Kawasaki is indicative of how the financial squeeze is being felt in the MotoGP world right now. It's all up in the air, leading to a lot of wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth by the MotoGP faithful amid the prolonged speculation.

Some blame Dorna, some blame Kawasaki; some blame the Americans and the collapse of the sup-prime market or whatever.

But in reality it's just a case of racing finding out that, in the global scheme of things, racing at the prototype level takes a back seat when the money men are furrowing their brows and getting their big red pens out.

That's what happened at Honda in F1 and could happen even more in the most expensive avenue of motorcycle racing. Inventing, developing and racing hand-built prototype exotica for 498 races a year all around the globe is a pretty expensive way to puff out the corporate chest.

Which is where having a big sponsor like Fiat or Repsol is a good thing - because the team are not relying solely on the factory for money to cover the costs of racing.

Mind you, there are a few rumours at the moment saying that there may be some trimming to come from a couple more MotoGP corners yet.

Elsewhere it may not be all doom and gloom: for example in WSB, where Kawasaki continues its interest in 2009 with a passion.

Tony Carter / Eurosport